Sedona Captured

Happy Easter!

We celebrated Easter with Grandpa and Grandma, along with our adopted 'Arizona' family, yet again this year. Aunt Fran brought the pretty fruit basket above, and 'the girls' decorated eggs for namecards. It was a lovely day!

Visiting with relatives

After a hike among the red rocks, we stopped in to visit great-great-aunt Barbara. We chatted with her, and we girls played the piano for her too. Then we had a delicious dinner, and evening of talk, with her daughter Linda.

Off to Sedona!

The van was packed with all of us and our various stuffs, as we hit the road for a trip to Sedona! Home of artisans and crafters of all kinds, Sedona is a great place to visit. Take a look at the shops and galleries, take a jeep tour, try some food, and don't forget to take a walk, or hike, among the amazing red rock formations! As you can see, we found our state rock! Most of the formations have names, but as we didn't know any, we made up our own!

Rembrandt & Rain

We went to the Phoenix Art Museum to see paintings by Rembrandt and other Dutch artists. The still life paintings by the Dutch usually have morals hidden in them. A timepiece or skull would represent the brevity of life, and a pipe or glass of wine would warn against indulging in sinful pleasures. Families were held in such high esteem in the Netherlands, that family portraits were painted strictly for the family's ownership and use. If in later years, there were no more descendants to pass the painting on to, the portrait would be burned rather than sold to another person who was not related! This is why there are very few family portraits that have survived the years. Also, many times the family would be painted gathered around a piano, and seated with instruments, to portray family unity and harmony.

Upon leaving the art museum, Annick, Evvie, and Catrina found themselves caught by a bit of rain....

El Camino & El Cactus

Are you in the mood for a crazy photographer story?

It all started when I looked out the window and saw this bright blue El Camino sitting by the curb. The sun was shining nicely, so I grabbed my camera and headed out to take some photos! (Vintage autos are great photo subjects!) After a few shots, and while I was looking the car over for more ideas, (I had to think quickly before the driver came back and saw this girl taking pictures of his car), I suddenly felt something jab into my foot! I looked down to see lots of scratches on my toes(I was wearing flip-flops). Wow, did that hurt! For the first time in my life, I had tripped over a barrel cactus! It was a baby barrel, but it still gave out big-barrel pain to whomever stuck their foot into it's spines! Ouch-ouch-ouch!!

Now for the crazy part.

I had two choices, though most people would not agree, should I dash into the house and take care of my foot, or, seeing that it wasn't bleeding very much, should I take a couple more fast photos before dashing into the house to take care of my foot? This wouldn't be a crazy photographer's story if I had chosen the first idea, would it? I figured that after fixing my foot, I wouldn't be up to coming back out to take more photos, so I snapped two more, and then ran into the house.

In conclusion, I had several pricks on my big toe, plus the chance to extract a couple spines that were pretty deeply inserted. My foot is getting better now, and I have some cactus experience, some neat car photos, and you have a story to tell any photographers who are planning a trip to a desert area :)

Where are the Marshalls???

They come, and they go, and nobody knows! Guesses anyone?

En route to Arizona!

At the airport for our 23rd annual trip to Arizona for a visit with Grandpa and Grandma Steere!

Arizona's mountains, or "big dirts" as Evvie used to call them :)

Body Worlds!

On Friday we went to the Body Worlds exhibit, and we saw real human bodies and parts, plasticized and set in pose or in glass cases. There was even a corner showcasing tiny embryos and little babies from 22-24 weeks! Afterwards, we walked through the nearby Historic Square, saw ASU, and then stopped at Chili's for lunch.

Arizona State University

Chili's Strawberry Lemonade: now with Swirling Seeds! (must use straw to activate swirling)

Evvie talking with Grandpa about her horse.

Visiting Aunt Fran, Aunt Pam and Gaia

On Saturday, we went out to lunch and visited with Aunt Fran and Aunt Pam. The visit would not be complete without giving Aunt Pam's Golden, Gaia, plenty of attention!

Aunt Pam and Gaia

The Evening Walk

Evvie and I in a self-portrait, complete with rainbow!

The four sisters :)